Page 3 of Pleasured By the Panther
“Excuse me—I’m Hanna’s mother, here to speak on her behalf,” she began. “I’m afraid there’s been a mistake. You see, Hanna is engaged to be married. She forgot to take her name out of the Draft, but the wedding is tomorrow so?—”
“There are no excuses allowed.” The ancient Monstrum priestess glared at her. “Her name has been called and she must come and be matched with the warrior who called her!”
“What?” Hanna’s voice was little more than a squeak as she looked up at Miranda in abject terror. “Please—I can’t… what will Bradley say if I go up to that Mother Ship with a strange Monstrum for a month and miss our wedding? He’ll never forgive me!”
Unfortunately, Miranda thought she was probably right. Though she liked her future son-in-law well enough, he was extremely straight-laced. He probably wouldn’t forgive Hanna spending a month with a seven-foot-tall Monstrum Warrior even if nothing happened between them. And besides, the wedding was already paid for and the caterers were booked!
“She can’t come,” Miranda said flatly. “She’s engaged and about to be married. I can give you the details if you want—you can call the caterers or the DJ or the photographer we hired to verify what I’m saying, but my daughter is not free to be called as a Monstrum bride.”
The old priestess drew herself up.
“I have told you, there are no excuses! Your daughter should have withdrawn herself from our Draft if she did not wish to come to the Monstrum Mother Ship. You must?—”
Just then, the panther Monstrum Miranda had been studying earlier came up and murmured something in the priestess’s ear.
“Eh? What’s that you say?” The old priestess turned to him, frowning. “Are you certain?”
The panther Monstrum nodded firmly and said something too low for Mirdanda to hear.
“Very well, then.” The priestess nodded and turned back to speak into the microphone again. “We have an offer for you—what is your name?” she asked, frowning at Miranda.
“Miranda Slocum.” She wished she’d gotten it changed back to her maiden name of Whitaker, but for now, she was still stuck with her married name. “I’m Hanna’s mother,” she repeated, for clarity.
“Well, well, Miranda Slocum—the Monstrum warrior who called Hanna is willing to make a deal. He’ll take you instead of your daughter, so he says,” the priestess told her.
Miranda was certain she’d misheard her.
“Excuse me?” she asked, frowning. “What?”
“This Warrior here.” The priestess nodded at the Panther Monstrum. “Says that so long as you have no male who claims you, he’ll make a trade. You for your daughter. What say you?”
“I…um…” Miranda didn’t know how to respond. She looked down at her daughter, who was weeping now—tears running down her blotchy cheeks.
“Mom, no—I can’t lose you!” she whispered through her tears. “Especially not right before the wedding—I need you!”
“I know, sweetheart, but we don’t seem to have much of a choice,” Miranda murmured. She looked up at the Panther Monstrum and the priestess, who were both staring at her.
“Well? Who’s it to be?” the priestess demanded. “We don’t have all day—there are many matches to make! You or your daughter—make up your mind!”
“Me,” Miranda blurted, because what else could she say? “I’ll come—just let my daughter go home.”
“Mom—no!” Hanna grabbed her hand.
“Honey, I have to. I’m sorry if I end up missing the wedding, but it’s better than you missing it—you’re the bride!” Miranda squeezed her hand comfortingly. “I have to go now. I’m sorry.”
And leaving her daughter pale and weeping in her seat, she walked slowly down the row of chairs and up to the front of the ballroom where the massive Monstrum waited for her.
3
KORRATH
Korrath watched the curvy little human approach him warily. She was a tiny thing—the top of her head would barely come past his elbow. Yet she was exactly who he wanted—the one he had been dreaming of.
He wondered if Miranda Slocum had been dreaming of him, too. If so, she didn’t show it. Her lovely gray eyes—such an unusual color—were wide but determined—as though she was about to scold him. Well, she could scold if she wanted—as long as she came with him to the Mother Ship.
Calling her daughter had been a pretext—the only way he could think of to get her here. He had seen in his dreams how close the two of them were—he’d watched as they made preparations for the daughter’s Joining to a human male. Much had been revealed as he slept—which was sometimes the way during Dream Sharing.
Miranda herself didn’t have her name in the Draft registry—probably because she’d been married to a human male up until six months before. Also, the Kindred needed to update their requirements—single human women over fifty still weren’t mandated to join the Draft, but they needed to be—at least in Korrath’s opinion. Everyone knew that Mature Elites—which was what his people called women with both the wisdom of age and the beauty of extra-full curves—were the most attractive human women. Especially to Felinus Monstrum like himself.
